General	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
General	General Nature of Business Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., or SWM or the Company, headquartered in the United States of America, is a multinational diversified producer of highly engineered solutions and advanced materials for a variety of industries. The Company maintains two operating product line segments: Advanced Materials and Structures and Engineered Papers. The Advanced Materials & Structures segment, or AMS, produces mostly resin-based rolled goods such as nets, films and meltblown materials, typically through an extrusion process or other non-woven technologies. These products are used in a variety of specialty applications across the filtration, construction and infrastructure, transportation, industrial and medical end-markets. As discussed more fully in Note 3. Business Acquisitions, in January 2017, the Company completed the acquisition of Conwed Plastics LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and its Belgian subsidiary ("Conwed NV" and collectively with Conwed Plastic LLC, “Conwed”), which has been integrated into the AMS segment. The Engineered Papers segment, or EP, primarily serves the tobacco industry with production of various cigarette papers and reconstituted tobacco products, or "recon". Traditional reconstituted tobacco leaf, or "RTL", is used as a blend with virgin tobacco in cigarettes and used as wrappers and binders for cigars. Recon, as well as LIP (low ignition propensity) cigarette paper, a specialty product with fire-safety features, are two key profit drivers, which together account for more than half of segment net sales. The EP segment also produces non-tobacco papers for both premium applications, such as energy storage, and industrial commodity paper grades, which are often produced to maximize machine utilization. We conduct business in over 90 countries and operate 23 production locations worldwide, with facilities in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Russia, Brazil, China and Poland. We also have a 50% equity interest in two joint ventures in China. The first, China Tobacco Mauduit (Jiangmen) Paper Industry Ltd., or CTM, produces cigarette and porous plug wrap papers and the second, China Tobacco Schweitzer (Yunnan) Reconstituted Tobacco Co. Ltd., or CTS, produces RTL. As used in this 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our," "SWM," "Schweitzer-Mauduit" or similar terms include Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

General

Nature of Business

Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., or SWM or the Company, headquartered in the United States of America, is a multinational diversified producer of highly engineered solutions and advanced materials for a variety of industries. The Company maintains two operating product line segments: Advanced Materials and Structures and Engineered Papers.

The Advanced Materials & Structures segment, or AMS, produces mostly resin-based rolled goods such as nets, films and meltblown materials, typically through an extrusion process or other non-woven technologies. These products are used in a variety of specialty applications across the filtration, construction and infrastructure, transportation, industrial and medical end-markets. As discussed more fully in Note 3. Business Acquisitions, in January 2017, the Company completed the acquisition of Conwed Plastics LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and its Belgian subsidiary ("Conwed NV" and collectively with Conwed Plastic LLC, “Conwed”), which has been integrated into the AMS segment.

The Engineered Papers segment, or EP, primarily serves the tobacco industry with production of various cigarette papers and reconstituted tobacco products, or "recon". Traditional reconstituted tobacco leaf, or "RTL", is used as a blend with virgin tobacco in cigarettes and used as wrappers and binders for cigars. Recon, as well as LIP (low ignition propensity) cigarette paper, a specialty product with fire-safety features, are two key profit drivers, which together account for more than half of segment net sales. The EP segment also produces non-tobacco papers for both premium applications, such as energy storage, and industrial commodity paper grades, which are often produced to maximize machine utilization.

We conduct business in over 90 countries and operate 23 production locations worldwide, with facilities in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Russia, Brazil, China and Poland. We also have a 50% equity interest in two joint ventures in China. The first, China Tobacco Mauduit (Jiangmen) Paper Industry Ltd., or CTM, produces cigarette and porous plug wrap papers and the second, China Tobacco Schweitzer (Yunnan) Reconstituted Tobacco Co. Ltd., or CTS, produces RTL.

As used in this 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our," "SWM," "Schweitzer-Mauduit" or similar terms include Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.